Harper, Finley backed EI changes

In a speech last week, Finley praised the EI changes that force frequent collectors of EI to travel as far as 100 kilometres for a job, and accept as much as 30 per cent less pay than their previous employment.

The federal government has also faced criticism over the home visits from bureaucrats to people on EI.

In an interview on CBC Radio's Maritime Noon last week, Finley defended the controversial home visits that EI investigators are conducting in the cases of 1,200 randomly selected EI recipients.

"Unfortunately some people may go on vacation, and we want to make sure that that's not happening," she said in the interview.

After the reforms were announced last year, Premier David Alward asked for a team of senior provincial officials to study the potential impact of the changes.

In that report, the cultural and tourism sector expressed "grave concern for the potential loss of tourism seasonal staff."